Most of us know God as a good Master and while that is true and brilliant, if our revelation of God as a good Master doesn’t mature into a revelation of God as a good Father, we may find ourselves living like a prodigal.

Control, it masquerades in the religious rhetoric of holiness; its wars are holy, its politics, its inquisitions, its crusades, its genocide, its prejudice, discrimination, racism, sexism, its abuse – all painted with the brush of fanatic righteousness.

The Father never turned His back, He never left, or forsook Jesus, He never abandoned, not even for a moment. His love was just as good as it’s always been.

I’ve often described how leading A Family Story these past years has felt much like exploring the best route up a mountain while people are following you.

It’s been an exhilarating adventure filled with joy, breakthrough, and revelation. It’s also had its share of wrong turns and backtracking.

It can be a challenge to cast vision while backtracking. But there has been nothing more transformational than the goodness of God we’ve discovered through pioneering!

You are the fruit of His suffering; you are the glorious resurrection generation. You are His will done on earth as it is in heaven. You are His pleasure, His beloved.

If I type into Google’s search bar, “If God is good…” Google will finish my search with the following suggestions: …Why is there suffering? …why do bad things happen? …why is there evil?

Peter believed Jesus’ kingdom on earth would need swords and men willing to use them. It would require sacrifice, the willingness to die for Jesus, and also, the willingness to kill for Jesus…

The power of the song “Come Thou Fount” is the revelation that we can always know His Love

Long ago, I made Jesus, sovereign love, my hermeneutic, my “methodology of interpretation,” (6) the lens through which my entire theology is defined.

David experienced the valley but the valley was never God’s heart for him. Jesus went to a cross. But the cross was never His focus. Death is never the focus with God, He is always and only about resurrection. Jesus said He came to give us life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). Jesus—the Father revealed—was focused on the joy of resurrection life.

In this highly charged political season of us and them, we must not find our belonging in a political party or persona. Otherwise, we become lost.

“Mercy by itself isn’t enough. Jesus didn’t just come to set us free from sin; He came to empower us into righteousness.”

I interrupted again, “I’m not looking for what you know, here,” I said, pointing to my head. “When is the last time you experienced to the core of your being His unquestionable pleasure, His joy, His overwhelming love for you, here?” I pointed to my heart.

The key to freedom isn’t about not being offended, it’s about keeping no record.